Popular music increasingly employs electronic instruments and processing equipment such as synthesizers, drum machines, groove machines, samplers, and sequencers. An important advance in this technology has been a beat munging feature which is the subject of the above-referenced copcnding and commonly assigned patent applications.
These applications disclose techniques for processing a digital music file to identify the locations and the beginning of beats. Techniques for changing time signatures, adding swing, reordering the beats of a soing, and mixing beats from different songs are also disclosed.
An important aspect of electronic music-making equipment is the development of interfaces that allow musicians to interact with electronic equipment as if the equipment were a musical instrument. For example, synthesizers are controlled by piano-like keyboards and drum machines include pads that may be struck by sticks or by hand.
Another important aspect of electronic music is remixing or altering existing songs. Sequencers allow bits of songs to be reused in arbitrary ways and the above-described beat munger allows songs to be dissected by beats and the beats to be processed separately.
Accordingly, much research and creative effort is being directed to improve human interactivity with electronic equipment to allow artistic creativity and facilitate a musician friendly interaction with electronic equipment.